Well, after the open letter to Jelena Mrdjenovich appeared on WBAN, the Jeannine Garside camp was approached directly and offered a fight against Jelena for Dec. 7 in Edmonton. Of course, it was for ridiculously low money (less than Keli Cofer got) but we said "Yes. Let's get it on." Money aside--Jeannine wants to kick Jelena's butt. She believes she is the better fighter and wants the chance to prove it. We were very gracious and cooperative with the Mrdjenovich team and negotiated in good faith.

That was apparently not the answer they expected, so they immediately started back-peddling. They said that Jeannine couldn't fight for the title because she wasn't rated in the WBC at 130#. That was easily fixed since Jeannine just beat Brooke Dierdorff who IS rated at 130#. The WBC approved the fight.

Their next tactic to avoid the fight was to say that Jeannine wasn't the mandatory and they wouldn't fight her unless she was #1 in that division. It just so happens that Missy Fiorentino is #1 and has until April to fight Jelena. The WBC was excited about a December title fight between Jelena and Jeannine and believed it would be a great WBC title fight.

This obviously freaked Jelena's team out so they now said that they didn't want to pay the sanctioning fees for a title fight unless Jeannine was #1. I can't imagine that the WBC will be too happy with this decision. They want champions who respect their WBC title and defend it often and proudly. Jelena's last fight was at 135# for the WIBF belt. Most sanctioning bodies are not in favor of boxers who (as they put it) "collect belts without regard to their WBC obligations."

So--Jeannine is again frozen out by the Mrdjenovich camp. I doubt that this is the doing of Jelena herself, so I don't want to cast aspersions on her. She is classy girl and a terrific fighter. I just wish the fight could be made.

Jackie Kallen

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